A rtist: Chango Spasiuk Title: Sounds from the Red Land: From Melancholy in the Fields to Happiness on the Dancefloor Label: Piranha Musik "Chamamé songs blend melancholy and happiness together. It's a music with many levels: like an onion, you peel off layers and find real lives inside it." – Chango Spasiuk Chamamé was born out of migrations to the northeastern provinces of Argentina, and infused with generations of war, hardship, and backbreaking fieldwork. This sound is more than a genre; it is the music of a place. It is the sound that stretches across vast landscapes of rivers, rainforest and subtropical weather, over sand and an endless expanse of red fields. Three hundred years in the making, this music was originally distilled from the combination of Spanish and Mbya Guarani indigenous styles. The accordion was introduced thanks to the polkas, waltzes, and schottisches that arrived with Eastern European migrant boats, and was eventually adopted as the unofficial instrument of chamamé. Hear chamamé's past and future on Chango Spasiuk's latest effort Tarefero de mis Pagos, released February 8, 2005 on Piranha Musik. Born in 1968 in the province of Misiones, Chango reaped the benefits of this meeting of cultures in northeastern Argentina. By age eleven, Chango had picked up the accordion and joined his father and uncle in impromptu patio performances overlooking the hot red earth of his homeland. Since then Chango has complemented his talents with work in folk, jazz and rock, allowing him to experiment with a multitude of sounds over six albums. Today Chango is the symbol of the contemporary chamamé movement in Argentina, much the way Astor Piazzola bred new life into tango. On his latest CD, Chango nourishes the growing history with an invigorating mix of new and classic chamamé songs. The record pays homage to the tarefero, the field workers who spend their days harvesting yerba mate, the essential herb in the popular Argentinean drink mate. For three centuries this diverse workforce of immigrants working in the fields produced a tension and release that could only truly be represented by the lamenting joy that became chamamé - a feisty and infectious dance music in 6/8. This music reflects the hardships of fieldwork, clash of cultural identities, and friendships that are born when everyone shares a Saturday night on the dance floor. Tarefero de mis Pagos represents a new page for Chango. The success of his previous record Charm of Chamamé gave Chango the opportunity to travel abroad and spread his distinct music while simultaneously carrying his music into the future. Chango decided to abandon the modern conventions of drum set and electric bass and set forth with an all-acoustic ensemble focusing on guitar, percussion and double bass. The result is a plethora of song forms ranging from white-hot dance numbers to more reflective pieces, both of which stress his intangible talent for unique dynamics and intelligent melodic shifts. "Sometimes to know what melody is coming lets you have more control over the situation," says Chango. "It's not that I'm looking to fight against this. It is my intention to create some room to let people open themselves up to other places when they listen." Tarefero is the sound of Chango revitalizing this music for the 21st century. Back to top

Artist: Emeline Michel Title: Rasin Kreyol Label: Times Square Records Haiti"s Emeline Michel Carries the Flag of a World Without Borders: The Positive Voice and Strong Creole Roots of Rasin Kreyol "Living outside of your own country, you feel you have let your country down," says Emeline Michel, the Queen of Haitian Song, who releases Rasin Kreyol on Times Square Records on October 5, 2004. "Especially while the country is sinking politically. You carry so much love and so many beautiful things about your country you want to put out into the world." That is exactly what her eighth CD does. Emeline draws on the roots and history of Haiti - the world"s first Black republic - in many ways. The intertwined rhythms of the manman tanbou, boula, and katabou - Haitian drums - provide the foundation for original lyrics peppered with Haitian proverbs and positive messages. "Everybody knows that Haiti is in trouble," she says.† "Sometimes I feel like I should be there helping!† This album is my way to be there. It"s my chance to show a side of Haitian culture that is positive." On Nasyon Soléy (Sun Nation), Emeline sings, "We don"t want to die before our children can see our country back on its feet. We don"t want to die without going back to Haiti no no no." Even Emeline"s three-year-old - heard on the song"s intro - is aware of this homesickness. "I ask him what"s mommy"s dream? He says, "Mommy wants to find her feet in the warm water," explains Emeline. The song continues, "We are dreaming of the sun. We are tired of fighting, tired of the cold. We are not Diaspora, we are just trapped. Sun nation, stand up. Sun nation, stay strong, don"t give up. Sun nation, wherever you go you carry your flag under your skin. Wherever you go your flag is yourself." At 18, Emeline won a song contest in Haiti, which earned her a year studying music in Detroit. She landed there not knowing a lick of English and became the first in her family to ever leave Haiti. She returned to Haiti and developed a career as the country"s most prolific singer/songwriter. Emeline remains one of the few women bandleaders in Caribbean music and Rasin Kreyol is her third CD as record producer. She has lived in France and Canada, and currently resides in New York. She has toured five continents and become one of the best-selling Haitian artists worldwide. "I feel like I am half-nomad," she says. "I feel sad that there is this distance between me and my country. But in making this CD, I have this urgency to live to the max. I want to be respectful of everything that the universe offers me. It"s not about feeling pretty or about what"s promoted on TV. It"s about simply being real. Feeling connected." Emeline has become a star in the French Caribbean by emphasizing complex themes, conscious lyrics, and a broad palette of musical styles, including the native Haitian compas, twoubadou, and rara. A captivating performer, versatile vocalist, and accomplished dancer, Emeline is beloved by Haitians for combining traditional rhythms with social and inspirational content. You can hear the bellow of the kornet - a long Haitian one-note trumpet - on Ban"m La Jwa (Give Me Joy), a song in which Emeline asks for strength to live a positive life. "Give me joy. Cleanse me from envy and vanity; two powerful enemies who can stop me from moving forward. Give me humility so my pride won"t limit me. Give me compassion to give with passion." La Karidad - a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince - has the feel of an old-style compas on which Emeline reminisces about growing up during better times in Haiti; a time of young love and Tropicana, a romantic big band, which rehearsed nearby. "Like a lot of people," explains Emeline, "we had a big mango tree in our yard where we would take our boyfriends to sit and talk." This song says, "The day a mango tree will talk/Some stories will be told." The song"s chorus repeats zipitipitim, the catchy sound of a drum pattern heard by youngsters who would sneak off to Tropicana"s rehearsal against their parents" will. "When you hear Tropicana you remember all that good sugary stuff. Your grandmother will say, "Oh my God!" Emeline laughs. When it came to recording Mon Reve (My Dream), originally a full page of lyrics, "I was so tired," Emeline says, "I did a version where I gave up on the lyrics and just hummed it." Emeline tells one story that inspired the song: "When you are crossing the border from one country to another, your heart is going through the mouth. Especially how they treat Haitians. One time I was running with my bags trying not to miss a plane. I gave an official my passport with tons of stamps from traveling all over the world. And he looks at me and says "Why are you out of breath?" They"re automatically suspicious." Over a Haitian vodou doublé nago rhythm and a haunting, Guinean Fula flute, Emeline dreams of a world with all nationalities, living together without borders. She says, "The planet is for all of us and we should make it easy for each other." "I ended up not singing one word on Mon Reve," recalls Emeline. "And at the end, when I listen to it, I think to myself, "Stop having regrets on what you haven"t done. Start living that dream right now!"" Back to top

Artist: Daara J Title: Boomerang Label: Wrasse Records From the South Bronx to Goree, Hip Hop Boomerangs Back to Africa: Senegal"s Daara J Keeps it Positive on American Debut "Born in Africa, brought up in America, hip hop has come full circle," proclaims Daara J on the title track of the group"s American debut album Boomerang (Wrasse Records, October 19, 2004). Hailing from Senegal, the western-most country in Africa, Daara J must have caught some of the sound waves rolling over the Atlantic from the South Bronx in the mid-seventies, or was it the other way around? Goree, an island just off the coast of Senegal, was the last bit of the motherland seen by the millions of Africans caught in the slave trade en route to America. What the proprietors of this grossly profitable injustice could never have imagined was the tremendous socio-political impact those slaves would have on the country they were forced to call home. Ancient rhythms, rebellion, and the ability to express pain, suffering, and triumph through art would later manifest in what we have come to know as hip hop. Daara J"s Faada Freddy explains that tasso is the original form of rap, ancient rhythmic poetry passed down from father to son. "Historically, people in Senegal would use tasso to talk about their environment, their living conditions, the situation of the country and their hopes for the future." "Daara J means ëschool of life." With every production, we want to give an education to our listeners," says group member Aladji Man. In the vein of De La Soul, Public Enemy, and Blackstar, Boomerang strays from the typically machismo and materialistic subject matter permeating America"s mainstream rap scene. Joining the likes of Positive Black Soul and MC Solaar as one of Senegal"s elite hip hop crews, Daara J uses their words as a positive force. Proudly earning their name, the trio focuses on the ills of globalism, the perils of a traditional society, the threatened environment, and on spirituality. "To the end of our pains we will always build. My generation wants to come up for air," say the lyrics of "Esperanza." During Senegal"s 2000 presidential election, Daara J was hired to edit speeches and promote the anti-corruption political campaigns. Successfully bringing new voters to the polls, they were able to share in the defeat of a corrupt regime. The same power can be found within the rhymes and rhythms of their first album to hit American shores. Stirring the senses with raga, jazz, and Cuban and Caribbean sounds, Boomerang is how hip hop was meant to sound, a canvas upon which styles of artistic expression create something which has never been discovered. Winners of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for "Best African Act," Daara J has spent months atop the European world music charts. Daara J's Boomerang proves to be as universally relevant and appreciated as it is unique to its creators. The album melts borders with touches of English and Spanish peppered among the courses of French and Wolof, a prominent native Senegalese tongue, uniting the international hip hop community. Never before has a non-English hip hop album sounded so natural. Boomerang just might give the impression that French and Wolof are rap"s lingua franca and Senegal its birthplace. Back to top   This website: Copyright © 2005 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or the previous publisher of original republished materials.